RBA Reviews

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA

Vapefly are back with another collaboration with the German 103 team. Antony takes a look at the Lindwurm RTA

by Antony Lord
Aug 9, 2022

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Our friends over at Sourcemore have kindly sent over the latest collaboration between Vapefly and the German 103 team for us to take a look at, the Lindwurm RTA. The Lindwurm is a motif found on 11th century Swedish runestones depicting a wingless serpentine “dragon” with powerful forelimbs so let’s take a look and see if this one also has the claws to match.

Specifications

25.2 mm diameter
46.3 mm tall (excluding drip tip and 510)
5ml capacity
Single coil build deck
Concelated airflow
3 way adjustable airflow (side and bottom)
6 bottom airflow pins included

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA box and contents

I was sent the silver version of the Lindwurm RTA, it’s also available in gunmetal and black. You also get a spare glass, five extra bottom airflow pins, a 510 drip tip adapter, a bag of spares and tools, a bag with some premade coils and cotton, and a brief user manual.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA up close

Starting at the top of the Lindwurm RTA, we have a standard 810 drip tip, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this because of the shape but it’s been perfectly comfortable in use. The top cap uses a quarter turn bayonet fitting to reveal the fill ports underneath, these employ a fill gasket which isn’t always the most popular choice and does somewhat obscure your view when filling the tank.

With the top cap off, you can also remove the large metal cage surrounding the 5ml capacity glass. The cage protects the glass and does have decorative openings representing a Lindwurm trying to escape it’s confinement, these do make it a little more difficult to see your e-liquid levels but it has been perfectly serviceable, plus with such a large expanse of glass on this relatively tall tank I think I’d much rather have that extra protection in place. When everything is put together, an o-ring at the top stops the cage from spinning freely but those of you with OCD who like things to line up will be pleased to learn that you can still turn this with just the right amount of tension being provided by that o-ring.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA build deck and chamber

The spinning cage does throw up one problem though as it can make it difficult to remove the build deck! I found that using a tea towel to grip the tank whilst unscrewing the base helped tremendously here. There’s a slightly protruding positive pin as well so this is likely to be mech safe if that’s your preference.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA build deck and wicking channels

The airflow on the build deck is where things start to get interesting with the Lindwurm RTA. The bulk of the airflow is coming from three angled airflow holes at the front-side of the coil with an additional side airflow port at the back milled into the positive post; there is also under coil airflow provided by a removable airflow pin.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA airflow pins

Out of the box a 0.9mm pin is installed but as this is marketed as a direct lung tank, I thought this would be a bit too restricted so I swapped it out for the 1.8mm pin instead. These are threaded into the deck and are easy enough to change with the obvious disadvantage that once you have your build in place, you won’t be able to access it without removing the coil as well.

Vapefly kanthal coil

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the premade multi core fused claptons were Kanthal for once, doubly so once I realised that the outer wrap wire was also kanthal, bonus! I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve bought “kanthal” fused claptons which then proved to have a Nichrome outer wrap rendering them useless to me with my nickel sensitivity. Top marks to Vapefly for the clearly marked packaging and coils that I can actually use for once.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA build

The build deck is actually a little on the cramped side, and a quick test fit showed that the included coils are perhaps a bit too wide, yes I could have finagled it into position but I decided that a better option was simply to remove one of the wraps. With this done the coil sat much better in the deck although it did still take a couple of attempts to get it into what I considered the best position.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA wicking

The included cotton is super fluffy and I found that I had to give it quite an aggressive haircut otherwise I worried that I’d end up choking off the relatively small wicking ports in the raised GTA style deck. Turns out I got this about right as it hasn’t leaked a drop and the wicking has kept up admirably.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA airflow

The second trick the Lindwurm has is its semi concealed airflow which allows you to semi-independently adjust the side and bottom airflows. There are discreet markers on the afc ring and the bottom of the tank to let you know how you’ve got the airflow set, these can be a bit difficult to see though so bring your reading glasses! It can also be a bit confusing figuring out what’s going on with this but luckily Vapefly have put a handy cheat sheet in the box, and yes I have had to refer to this more than once so you might want to keep that handy when you first start using the Lindwurm.

With everything set up and my build coming out to 0.25ohms, I found that the optimum power setting seemed to be around 45 to 50 watts. Even with the airflow fully open, this is still a slightly restricted direct lung hit, I’m sure changing the bottom airflow pin would make it a bit more open but if you like super airy hits and massive clouds then look elsewhere. The airflow is nice and smooth at all settings, but for me this was perfect with both the side and bottom airflow fully open, the flavour is superb as well as is the case with most modern atomisers.

Pros

Good build quality
Nice semi-restricted direct lung hit
Good flavour

Cons

AFC can be tricky to master
Slightly cramped build deck
Not technically TPD compliant!

Conclusion

Vapefly have knocked it out of the park again here, if you like a flavourful semi-restricted direct lung hit then the Lindwurm should be right up your alley. The build deck does feel a little cramped and it might take a while to figure out how to use that AFC properly, but the rewards are there if you persevere with it. It’s been the perfect match up for my Vapefly Brunhilde SBS mod as well.

Many thanks to Sourcemore for sending the Vapefly Lindwurm over for review.

Vapefly Lindwurm RTA handcheck

Antony Lord

Reviewer at POTV

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I was a twenty a day smoker for 25 years and like most smokers I was always going to quit "next week". Having hit my mid forties and having the usual smokers cough and difficulty with anything more than moderate exercise it was obviously time to give up the cancer sticks. I bought my first e-cigarette in 2013 when they were expensive, difficult to find and quite frankly... crap. I used it for about a week then went back to the roll ups, mark up another failed quit attempt. The fact that I had just changed jobs and was under quite a lot of stress probably didn't help. Move on to 2016 and whilst I was browsing eBay I noticed that one of the suggested items that would occasionally pop up was for a cheap e-cigarette. It looked similar to the one I'd bought 3 years earlier but it was only £5 (about 8 times cheaper than before) so I decided to give it another go on a whim. Once the kit arrived I managed to gradually replace the cigarettes with my new kit over a two month period and got into watching YouTube reviews for newer kit. My cheap and cheerful kit was replaced by a more upmarket affair, and being a noob I made a mistake once it arrived... I put in the supplied direct lung coil, this was of course a complete revelation and I haven't touched a cigarette since. Oh and I no longer spend the first five minutes of every day having a coughing fit either.